Help be a part of the solution

Judging by the letters to the editor, there are an abundance of opinions from readers about what this area needs, is doing wrong or what it should be doing.

Sometimes, those comments aren't accompanied with a solution.

But now residents have a chance to begin to solve some of the area's problems during the Fremont Economic Development Corp.'s "meeting of the minds" from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. April 20 at the Abbey Events Center, 2951 E. U.S. 50.

The group wants to specify a five-point plan to help the county's lagging economy and in a sense re-create FEDC. The idea is to gather local businesspeople, community leaders and residents to brainstorm how to leverage assets and create a roadmap for the area.

This is the first step that hopefully will lead to a stronger, healthier local economy.

The summit will be divided into two sessions. Participants will focus on the creative side in the morning session, and then in the afternoon session, they will revisit the issues to gain perspective on the topics.

Branding the community, the image of the area and creating the community's destiny are topics that will be discussed.

The exciting part of this gathering of people is the idea to have a variety of backgrounds and skills participate in a format where there are no wrong answers.

"We know in our community that we just have dozens and hundreds of people here that have these skills, and we want to try to extract all of this positive energy and information out of them to fix our economy ourselves," said Rob Brown, interim executive director for the FEDC.

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This is exactly what Fremont County needs in order to move forward. Gather as much knowledge as you can and let the creative ideas flow. And there are many issues to discuss, from the area's job market to developing businesses to helping present businesses succeed to boosting tourism.

Fremont County has the tools here to fix many of the issues we face day to day. Nothing gets accomplished without some dialogue. April 20's meeting is the first conversation. There is no cost to attend and lunch is provided.

For more information, or to register for the symposium, call the Cañon City Chamber of Commerce office at 275-2331 or email Brown at brown@fedc.co.

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